Before Haru Met Makoto
by Die Einzelganger
Summary: A prequel for my story When Haru Met Makoto, a Free! UA where Rei was part of the original relay team and Makoto becomes the new fourth member of the Iwatobi Swim Club.


**Note: **This is a prequel to _When Haru Met Makoto_. I realized late that Valentine's Day was coming up, and then had an idea I could not include in WHMM as a bonus chapter because 1) all FrFr! bonus chapters fell within the actual timeline of the plot (they were even marked with dates to show their place in the timeline), 2) all FrFr! bonus chapters were written in honor of certain characters' birthdays, and 3) all FrFr! bonus chapters were scheduled to go up between episodes whether that meant publishing on that character's birthday or not. In contrast, this is a Valentine's Day special, and anything that happened on this date, i.e. February 14, 2013 would have happened before Episode 1: Part 1 of WHMM (which began on March 31, 2013) and therefore qualifies as a prequel, hence the birth of Episode 0. I also put Part A on purpose because if I decided to publish any more prequel material in the future, it might be out of chronological order and therefore should be regarded as a loose collection of snippets rather than a linear sequence of prequel events, and this way I will be able to mark WHMM complete when the epilogue goes up, while Episode 0 will stay incomplete just in case. That's all. Enjoy!

* * *

**Thursday, February 14, 2013.**

Nagisa could have sworn he had hidden it in the back of the top shelf of his wardrobe.

He had been saving up as much of his allowance as he could spare, starting the very first day of the new year. The moment he received his allowance for the first week, he withdrew to his room and made exact calculations of how much would fall on each day, even going so far as to put a chart together so he could follow his finances down to the smallest expenditure.

Lunch, he could not forego. Soul-crushing as the prep school turned out to be, even with a friend by his side, Nagisa could not imagine himself going without sustenance for half a day together. Lunch, he would allow. Everything else was up to his discretion, and whatever sum remained after purchasing a prepackaged bento, Nagisa set aside in a small jar underneath the nightstand so he wouldn't be tempted by its sight. Within two weeks, it began to fill half way. By the time January passed away, the top was brimming with coins, and two more scant weeks forced him to procure another small jar from the pantry to hold the overflow.

Eventually, Wednesday rolled around. Nagisa got up early, dug out his jars from their hiding place and poured their contents onto the bed, careful to tip them slowly not to cause too loud a jingle. To rouse the attention of the three deadly sisters would have been his doom. They had never stooped so low as to steal money from him, but they would not have been above prying about his object, and Nagisa wanted to avoid torture at all costs. While everyone was still sound asleep, he counted the small fortune he amassed, noted the total down on a piece of paper and after realizing his thin wallet would never hold the lot, he took out two socks from his drawer and proceeded to fill with the coins. Once full, the socks landed on the bottom of his school bag and were covered with text books to hide the precious cargo, which was to get Nagisa the best Valentine's Day chocolates money could buy.

It pained him a little to lie to Rei after school and worse, to turn down his offer of walking to his house so they could study together. On any other day, Nagisa would have replied with a resounding yes and stayed as long as possible, but not that day. Instead, he whisked himself away in the opposite direction under the guise of an errand, and sweet, innocent, perfect Rei-chan merely wished him the best, blissfully oblivious that Nagisa set off for a chocolate specialty shop on the promenade to buy him the most beautiful chocolates on earth.

After the painstaking removal of every last sen from his socks right on top of the sales counter ("They are clean, I swear!" Nagisa told the lady, who was less than amused at the use of socks as makeshift purses), and some contemplation of which candies deserved his confidence the most, Nagisa finally settled on a handmade heart-shaped box full of artistically wrapped artisan chocolates, as large as his schoolbag could reasonably hold without raising suspicion.

Upon getting home, he ran to his room at once and hid the box in the back of the top shelf of his wardrobe behind some old shirts and was only away from his room for dinner and a shower. And yet, by next morning, the chocolates weren't there.

Nagisa turned the rest of the wardrobe, throwing everything onto the bed. Pulled out all his drawers and raked through them. Dropped on his hands and knees to check under the bed. Still no box.

Until…

"Is this what you're looking for, Nagicchi?"

Nagisa's blood curdled as he turned his head towards the voice, still crouching by the bed and one hand stuck uselessly underneath it. Nanako stood in his doorway, leaning casually against the frame, and in her hand she held the box by its very tip, letting it dangle carelessly in the air.

Cold horror burst inside Nagisa. _If she were to drop it, it might break…!_

"You never buy us nice chocolate like this," teased Nanako. Nagisa's fists clenched by his sides as he took two steps forward and then stopped, just to give her a proper warning.

"Give it back," he breathed, his voice coarse. Nanako gave him a condescending little smile.

"Mom said you're too young to be dating, Nagicchi," she said in a sickly sweet tone. The box began to sway a little more, a red and pink pendulum between her fingertips.

"_Give it back,_" repeated Nagisa, but this time he closed the distance and reached his hands forward to reclaim the box, only for Nanako to thrust the box high into the air, hopelessly out of his reach. Nagisa's growth spurt, if he could even call it that, gained him little more than a few inches: at age fifteen and a half, he was still no match for any of his sisters in terms of height or even strength.

"In this house, we say _pleeeaaase,_" trilled Nanako. Nagisa's face contorted into a grimace as he grabbed at the box again and again to literally fall short every time. In his furious attempts to snatch the chocolates back from her, he did not notice Nanako's other hand. It was a fatal mistake. Her finger lifted, aimed and then jabbed into his side, causing Nagisa to flinch, and as he reeled backwards, Nanako magnanimously tossed the box onto his bed. Nagisa scrambled over to it at once, grasping both sides as though he wanted to hold it in place. Something crinkled under his fingers. The seal on the side was broken.

For a moment, Nagisa forgot how anyone could have walked in on him right then and there as he lifted the top of the box and found three out of nine horribly expensive chocolates missing: one third of his gift gone, just like that. That he might have been seen by his mother, who told him his studies always came before his friends, what little friends he had; his father, who would have strangled him for the ostentatious purchase when he could have saved up like a reasonable young adult or at least spent his allowance more practically… and his sisters, who apparently knew enough of his hiding places to find the chocolates in the twenty minutes Nagisa spent in the bathroom, and ruin his first Valentine.

"Like I said, you never buy us anything this nice, so we just had to try one each! They were _so_ good," he heard Nanako's voice just inches from his ear. Nagisa lifted his head just barely to see her smile demurely at him. A small vein throbbed at his temple. Nanako finally realized that her little brother paled in cold anger.

The next moment, Nagisa pressed the top of the box back on its lacking contents without another word, his jaw firmly clenched. No longer caring if the box might suffer, he pulled it to his chest and secured it with one arm as his free hand reached for his schoolbag.

"Nagicchi…" Nanako began to say, but she could no sooner utter his name than be elbowed in the side by Nagisa as he tore himself away from the bed and rushed to the door, fleeing into the hallway. The front door slammed behind him a few seconds later. Their mother, confused, left the kitchen to peer into the hall, wondering who had left so early that they didn't even wait for her to finish making breakfast.

Standing thunderstruck by Nagisa's bed, Nanako's hand sank heavily in her pocket and pulled out three chocolates still in their untouched wrappers, rolling them on her palm like pebbles.

"…I was kidding," she whispered to the empty room.

Outside, Nagisa ran towards the train station with the box crushed against his chest, his eyes so wet the road blurred to fog in front of him.

* * *

By the time Rei arrived at the station in his middle school uniform and a brand new green backpack strapped onto him from all sides, Nagisa had shoved the box into his schoolbag and wiped his tears as best he could, though he could not help his reddened eyes or the puffy skin beneath them. In his lap lay a half-eaten station bento, one of two he had to buy when he finally realized he left home without a bite of breakfast. Rei quirked his brow as he inched forward to greet him, surprised that just this once, he was the one sneaking up on Nagisa and not the other way around. Compared to that, the fact that his friend was eating breakfast at the station rather than at home was a negligible detail, though one that their institution would not have looked upon with approval.

"Nagisa-kun?" came Rei's voice from above when he finally got within range. Nagisa flinched and slammed the bento box shut like he had been caught in the middle of a dirty deed.

"Aaah, Rei-chan…!" he blurted, his face scrunching into a troubled grin, the chopsticks pressed together in his fumbling grip. "I didn't notice you coming, hehe…"

"I was surprised myself," replied Rei, his brow creasing at Nagisa's sickly features. "Are you unwell, Nagisa-kun? You look tired and pale."

"N-no, I'm alright," stammered Nagisa as he turned his head, one hand sneaking up to his face to trace the bags under his eyes. He clenched his jaw and lowered his hand. Even after several years of knowing each other, he never once told Rei of how much abuse he suffered at the hands of his sisters, not even when Rei was around to witness the punch line of their malicious pranks. It was easier to pin their deeds on faceless bullies, less shameful to act like he was merely a victim of older boys' jests than his sisters' plaything even at age fifteen and a half, and so even today's shameful shortage would have to be blamed on someone else. But that had to wait, everything had to wait until they were perfectly alone, and so to discourage Rei from pursuing the subject, Nagisa opened his bento again and resumed breakfast, hoping nobody at the station was paying him any mind. He stuck a clump of rice in his mouth and chewed it slowly. Rei's brow furrowed.

"Did you manage your errand yesterday?" he asked next. Nagisa nearly choked on his rice.

"Not really…" he said quietly. Rei sat down on the bench next to him.

"Don't worry, Nagisa-kun," he said gently, "Maybe you'll succeed next time."

_I doubt it_, thought Nagisa, but unable to reject Rei's kindness, he smiled at him with more enthusiasm than he felt, only dropping his charades once they separated at the door to Nagisa's classroom, he and Rei having wound up in different classes for their final year of middle school.

* * *

Middle school had been the darkest period of Nagisa's young life by far. Once he graduated from elementary school, his parents took him out of the Iwatobi Swimming Club permanently and sent him to a prestigious prep school to continue his studies, and looking back from the end of his third year of middle school, Nagisa could not help but think that these two decisions had been mutually destructive of his former cheerful self. Had it not been for Rei, who had been entertaining the idea of that same prep school for some time and finally let himself be convinced of its desirability when Nagisa's enrollment was confirmed, Nagisa might not have pulled through on his own. The school hours stretched longer than ever: test upon test, work upon work, chasing after the best grade possible while slowly losing himself in math sheets and walls of small-print text. Each day, he came home exhausted and demolished, and each time his sisters decided to "cheer him up" with some mean-spirited pranks of their own design, their apparent disregard of his privacy and individuality felt more and more unbearable as he grew older, more and more conscious of just how much space and autonomy he needed that nobody at home allowed him to have.

What little free time Nagisa did have, he spent with Rei. As long as his grades were high, he was allowed to study with Rei at his house a few times a week, and on some nights, Nagisa could not be persuaded to go home at all. After a few short months of feeling important as part of a medley relay, all that remained of those happy times was Rei. A few months passed and Rin no longer replied to his letters. He hit a similar wall with Haruka. Eventually, worn to the bone and his mind full of gaping holes, Nagisa needed to stare at that photograph of the four of them standing together for several minutes to remind himself that Rin and Haruka were real. So far away from him, they might as well had been creatures of his imagination.

All Nagisa could tell himself was that middle school would not last forever, and the day would come when he no longer felt like a rusted machine or a once vivid illustration fading from its page. Even his parents had begun to acknowledge with some reluctance the symptoms of their son's depression, and so when the winter holidays came, they pulled Nagisa aside and told him he was old enough to decide which high school he wanted to attend once he graduated from prep school. Their unexpected generosity caught Nagisa off guard, but even so, the answer was born within a minute. If no one had any objections, Nagisa would enroll in Iwatobi High School.

The name alone sounded delightfully to Nagisa. A town and school named after his favorite animal, the rockhopper penguin? _Perfect!_ But a school that could possibly reunite him with Haru-chan? _Beyond perfection!_ If Haru-chan once went to Iwatobi Elementary and then upgraded to Iwatobi Junior High School, Nagisa thought it very likely that his friend simply went on to attend Iwatobi High School, and what was good enough for a genius like Nanase Haruka would be more than good for Hazuki Nagisa… granted that Rei agreed to attend Iwatobi High School as well. It was no use going without him. Nagisa could barely stand not being in the same classroom as Rei as it were, but too anxious to tell him outright that nothing mattered without him, Nagisa limited himself to merely dropping a thousand hints over the holidays that Iwatobi High School would be worth commuting two hours every day. That was the extent of their discussion, and once his Valentine's Day plan consumed Nagisa, his project had quite erased the matter from his mind.

But now, now that his once perfect Valentine lay in ruin, the idea of possibly separating from Rei upon graduation returned full force, and under such a terrible weight, Nagisa could just barely get through his morning classes alive and cursed the school rules for forcing students to remain in their classrooms while eating lunch. He could just find enough time to spend a scant half hour with Rei in the school yard, and once that time passed too quickly and sixth period followed way too soon, Nagisa counted the minutes until his freedom, minutes that inched by excruciatingly slow with nothing to properly occupy his thoughts.

Fortunately for Nagisa, Rei always waited for him by the school gate after the obligatory clean-up after classes, and today turned out no different from the rest.

"Are you tired, Nagisa-kun?" asked Rei when they came face to face by the gate. Nagisa suppressed a yawn.

"Yeah…"

"Then, I guess we should probably just head home. Maybe I could use a rest, too…" began Rei, merely wishing to be considerate of his friend, but Nagisa's eyes widened in nothing less than horror.

"N-no, I'm fine!" he cried at once, startling Rei with his sudden change of heart. "I'm wide awake! Let's go to your house, Rei-chan, let's study at your house today, okay?"

"Of course..!" replied Rei in a stunned tone, fixing his glasses with a fluttery hand. "Let's go then, Nagisa-kun…"

"Thank you," sighed Nagisa, flashing him a genuine smile at last.

* * *

At Rei's, his mother greeted them with a tray, quite used to Nagisa by now and often planning any baking for when he could be expected to come. Nagisa's parents had been adamant that Nagisa not spend too much time with friends after school, but Rei's parents could depend upon his showing up at least two times a week, and so a freshly baked batch of healthy lemon-scented cookies awaited them upon their arrival.

"Thank you," said the boys as they took one each. Rei's mother nodded with a smile.

"You can take it with you to Rei's room," she said kindly. "This is just the first batch. I'll back another one when your brother comes home this weekend."

"Onii-sama's coming home?" repeated Rei, his eyes gleaming. It was his older brother's last year at his master's course with his application for the PhD program still pending, and Rei had seen nothing of him since the winter holidays, when he came home for two weeks and spent most it writing his thesis.

"That's right!" came the happy reply. "He said he would spend the weekend and go back on Monday night since he has no classes that day."

"Did you hear that, Nagisa-kun?" said Rei with a grin. "This is wonderful! I'll be very happy to see him!"

Nagisa nodded with a subdued smile, unable to tell Rei how much he envied him. Instead he offered to take the tray from Ryuugazaki-san's hands and soon carried it to Rei's room, where the two of them settled around a small but sturdy table with the tray set on one side. Rei set his books on the table. Nagisa's hand sank into his schoolbag and twitched.

"Rei-chan…" he said, his voice hushed. "Can studying wait for a bit?"

"What do you mean, Nagisa-kun?" asked Rei, his brow quirked. "Is something wrong?"

"I need to show you something," replied Nagisa, forcing himself to look Rei in the eye. "Go and sit down on the bed, and close your eyes, okay?"

"Nagisa-kun…" chided Rei, not very fond of surprises, but something about the silent plea in Nagisa's eyes drew him from his seat by the table and guided him to the bed, where he promptly sat down and clasped his hands in his lap. His eyelids flickered shut. Nagisa slowly pulled the box from his schoolbag.

He took a deep breath. Rei's eyes remained closed as he stepped over to stand in front of him. He fidgeted. Back when he first began plotting the day, he imagined himself in full confidence, pulling impressive stunts, but now with three chocolates missing, he hardly knew whether to push the box into Rei's hands, put it in his lap or throw it out the window.

Rei unscrewed one eye in impatience. The next moment, his eyes went wide.

Nagisa fell on his knees and thrust the box forward, nearly jabbing Rei in the chest with it.

"Take it, Rei-chan! It's your Valentine!" he blurted in a desperate tone, gritting his teeth in pain as he paused and then added, "I ate some of them… but there's still six left!"

Rei stared at him stunned: after the shock of coming face to face with the largest box of Valentine's Day chocolates he had ever seen, Nagisa's final utterance could hardly add to his surprise. For a good minute, he sat absolutely still, hands limp and face frozen in shock, but when Nagisa's hands began to visibly tremble on either side of the box, Rei finally came to his sense and relieved Nagisa of his burden, carefully setting the box in his lap. He lifted the lid no longer obstructed by a once ornate seal on the side. Inside, set within a golden plastic mold of nine sockets forming a heart, six pieces of beautifully wrapped candies gleamed in loose order, with three pieces missing from the center and either side of the heart outline. The makers were kind enough to print a legend for the chocolates right onto the underside of the lid. Rei blinked. One of the chocolates promised a luscious strawberry filling, Nagisa's favorite flavor… and that piece was still in its socket completely untouched. _How strange…_

"I'm sorry…" mumbled Nagisa, his hands slipping to Rei's trousers to clench on the folds. Dreadful silence. No sound other than the ticking of the clock and Nagisa's heartbeat drumming in his ears and a faint rustle of the sheets as the box met the covers… and then a touch of warmth as Rei's hands slipped over his, cupping them gently until they loosened and released the fabric of his trousers, clasping into Rei's.

"Nagisa-kun…" whispered Rei, his eyes teary. "This is unexpected… I thought we were going to wait until high school to—"

"I can't wait, Rei-chan!" Nagisa cut him off, his chest swelling in desperation and hands clenching around Rei's larger ones. "Middle school is almost over and you still haven't said yes!"

"To what?" mumbled Rei, now a little confused. Nagisa screwed his eyes shut as he bumped his forehead against Rei's knees.

"To Iwatobi High School.." he whimpered, his voice muffled. "If you don't come… if you're not there… then it's meaningless! _I won't go without you!_"

"Nagisa-kun..!" blurted Rei, his jaw hanging and cheeks curiously tinged. Below, Nagisa squinted, his own cheeks suspiciously hot and wet. A tear rolled down and fell on Rei's knee. Nagisa's eyes screwed shut again.

"Please say yes…" he breathed, nudging his head against Rei's knee. "I love you, Rei-chan…"

Silence again, horrible silence. Nagisa's hands tightened even more.

"Nagisa-kun…" spoke Rei, his hands squirming in the other's iron grip as if begging to be released. Nagisa's fingers twitched and let go, half fearing a lecture over acting so silly, but no lectures came his way. Instead he felt his hands taken gently and guided upward as Rei rose from his seat, pulling Nagisa after him and into a hug, Rei's arms wrapping around him with firm fondness. Nagisa clung to him for dear life, blubbering on his shoulder. Rei rubbed circles over his back.

"I thought it was clear that we would both enroll in Iwatobi High School," said Rei quietly, causing Nagisa to twitch back just enough to stare at him wide-eyed. "You raised valid points during the winter holidays and I said I would consider it. And I did."

Nagisa gaped wordlessly, his cheeks bright pink. Rei flushed crimson.

"And besides…" he mumbled, turning his head a little, "I would probably get lonely if you weren't around to pester me anymore. After putting up with you for several years, I don't want to fall out of my routine," he added, pursing his lips.

Nagisa blinked.

And then, he laughed, laughed so loud and relieved the whole room echoed in its wake.

"_Rei-chan…!_" he cried as he thrust himself into the embrace again, squeezing so hard Rei could feel his ribs. "Rei-chan..! I will never stop pestering you, never, ever!"

Even Rei was laughing now. Nagisa wiped his eyes with his sleeve and pulled back again.

"And you know what, Rei-chan?" he asked, his cheeks soaked but his grin wide as could be.

"What, Nagisa-kun?" asked Rei, wondering when Nagisa would learn to use his handkerchief instead of his sleeve. _Hopeless…_

"Maybe Haru-chan will be at Iwatobi High School, too! If he went to Iwatobi Elementary and then to Iwatobi Junior High, chances are he might have gone to Iwatobi High next, right?"

"Sounds reasonable," conceded Rei, releasing Nagisa just enough to cup his chin. "It would be great to see Haruka-senpai again…"

"Let's go up to Haru-chan at the opening ceremony then, and see if he recognizes us!" chirped Nagisa, his good mood now unshakeable. "I bet he'll be surprised!"

"I'm sure he will be, Nagisa-kun," said Rei.

Silence fell between them, blissful, comfortable silence. Rei's eyes slipped to the chocolates.

"Nagisa-kun," he said, his brow quirked, "how much did the chocolates cost…?"

"Eh? Why would you ask about the price of a gift?" asked Nagisa surprised. Rei flushed.

"If I understand correctly, I am supposed to give you something three times more valuable on White Day in return…"

Nagisa choked at the thought of Rei going bankrupt over a box of chocolates with three pieces already missing.

"N-no, no, Rei-chan doesn't have to do that…" he muttered, his eyes falling to the floor. "I mean, I ate some of it, so it's Rei-chan who should get more…"

Rei gave him a light squeeze. Nagisa looked up again.

"Then I shall bake you a cake for White Day," he replied, one hand unfolding from Nagisa's back to fix his glasses with. "I will have you know I think it's important to observe traditions! To not reciprocate an important gesture would not be beautiful!"

It was Nagisa's turn to flush crimson, though his heart hammered so wildly in happiness he could hardly bear it. He swallowed, hesitated and then, to soar on the wings of his good fortune, he pressed himself upward on his tiptoes and puckered up, eyes closed and breath scarce.

A finger met his lips. Rei gave him a stern little look.

"Not until we're older, Nagisa-kun," he said matter-of-factly. Nagisa squinted at him.

"Rei-chan so stingy…" he muttered under his breath. Rei choked.

"_I am not stingy!_"

* * *

That evening, Nagisa didn't want to go home, but after some persuasion from Rei, mostly on account of next day's presentation at school, Nagisa agreed to leave. After being so warmly received and reassured he would not be left behind, walking home alone was nothing short of torture. There would be a family dinner where his father would quiz him about school nonstop and his mother would hush him like he was still some fussy child, and his sisters… oh, he didn't even want to think of them.

He arrived just in time to sit down and eat with everyone, for which he was scolded ("Why couldn't you come home sooner to help your mother?") and Nanako glanced to him several times, but he ignored her as best he could. In his heart of hearts, he knew the incident would eventually pass and be forgotten at least on one side, but when he thought of Rei, and of himself in agony all day, he could not bring himself to talk or smile for his family, not even a little.

After dinner, Nagisa went straight to his room and flopped down on the bed, fishing out his phone from his pocket and reaching out blindly to toss it onto the nightstand. It bonked against something that rustled slightly on contact. Nagisa looked up.

On his nightstand stood the three "eaten" chocolates in a now broken cluster, pushed apart when the phone joined them unexpectedly. Underneath them was a note. Nagisa pinched its corner wearily and plucked it loose to read it.

_Don't take me so seriously, dummy. Here are your chocolates. Love, Nanako_

Nagisa's eyes dulled. His fist clenched on the note and crushed it into a ball, his hand swinging upward to throw it at the small trashcan by his desk. He picked up the nearest chocolate and lifted his hand to throw that too, but before he could will himself to do it, his arm grew numb and his hand fell limply to his side.

It cost a fortune. It was intended for dear, sweet, wonderful Rei-chan. Maybe it could still be Rei-chan's if Nagisa could just figure out how to give them to him without raising suspicion.

He dropped the chocolate back onto the nightstand and then flopped down on his bed, lying there in a crumpled heap until he heard his mother say good night beyond the door as her usual warning for Nagisa to put on his pajamas and go to bed on time.

* * *

The next day, Nagisa ran up to Rei all smiles and grabbed his wrist the moment he came within reach, shoving the chocolates into Rei's hand.

"I didn't eat them after all, so here, Rei-chan!" he said with a grin as he closed Rei's fingers on the candy and then released him, throwing himself onto the bench with a sigh of relief.

Rei stood dumbfounded for a long moment, the chocolates rolled across his palm with a thumb, but once the shock wore off, his lips softened into a tender smile. At that moment, just like countless others before it, he wasn't sure if he would ever understand Nagisa… but one look at him was enough to reassure Rei that some perplexing mysteries could be just as agreeable as all the uncovered facts of the world.


End file.
